Exclusive: Boardwalk Casts 'Bugsy' Siegel

Boardwalk Empire has decided it is time to meet the lad who will one day become the notorious gangster known as “Bugsy” Siegel.

Filling that recurring role when the acclaimed HBO series launches its second season will be Michael Zegen, TVLine has learned exclusively. Zegen will be familiar to Rescue Me fans for playing Tommy’s godson, Damien Keefe (ergo the firefighter garb in the picture above).

Of course, Zegen’s character — who is described as “a tough, smart urban kid… as aspiring Jewish gangster” — will go by the name of “Benny,” seeing as “Bugsy” didn’t become a commonly (and not affectionately) used nickname for crime king Benjamin Siegel until the late 1930s.